parenting books

Child(ish) Reads: All Toddlers are Scorpios

| Patti Webb

When I saw this Forthcoming book listing, I thought it was the perfect way to end our Halloween posts.

All Toddlers Are Scorpios: An Astrological Guide to Your Adorable Tiny Terror by Johanna Gohmann. Blending parental exasperation with cosmic insight, Gohmann breaks down toddler personalities by zodiac sign—offering a starry-eyed (and slightly frazzled) look at the joys and mysteries of raising tiny humans. The profiles of each zodiac sign include sections dedicated to best (and worst!) toddler playdate matches; toddler’s preferred music, snacks, and toys; parent-child zodiac compatibility; and hilarious illustrations throughout from cartoonist Emily Flake. Whether you are raising a tenacious Taurus, a balanced Libra, or, yes, a hell-raising Scorpio, this is a book that lets parents laugh at the sheer insanity of sharing their home with a tiny terror.

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Child(ish) Reads: Dopamine Kids, Pt. 2

| Patti Webb

In part 1 of my Dopamine Kids review, I said that Michaeleen Doucleff’s five-step plan is very easy to implement. She walks through each step and gradually builds the plan with each chapter. Just like a textbook, you read the material in the first section and do the direct application right after.

So for part 2, I’m sharing my family plan and how I’ve adapted the steps for A&Z.

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Child(ish) Reads: Dopamine Kids, Pt. 1

| Patti Webb

I was very excited to receive my pre-ordered audiobook of Dopamine Kids by Michaeleen Doucleff. Yes, the same Michaeleen Doucleff from Hunt, Gather, Parent. It has been 5 years since I reviewed that book, and I love how Dopamine Kids fits in so perfectly with all of our Brain-Body posts this month.

Dopamine Kids: A Science-Based Plan to Rewire Your Child’s Brain and Take Back Your Family in the Age of Screens and Ultraprocessed Foods by Michaeleen Doucleff.

Blurb: For the first time in history, we are inundated with “dopamine surges” inside our brains, pulling us to technology and ultraprocessed foods like magnets—every day, many times a day. Over the past decade, neuroscientists have finally begun to figure out how these surges alter our choices, our habits, and even our moods. We’ve learned how dopamine can drive adults and kids to engage in activities that we don’t actually enjoy—activities that can make us feel sad, lonely, anxious, and depressed.

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Child(ish) Reads: The Family Dynamic

| Patti Webb

When I was in college, our rowing team competed at The Head of the Charles in Boston, and a group of us stayed in one of the dorms at Harvard. The girl we stayed with was a friend of some of our rowers and she had a twin brother who also attended Harvard.

So, there’s two high-achieving kids in the same family who are Harvard educated. I found out later that they had triplet younger sisters, all of which excelled in their own respective sports, including rowing and wakeboarding. Later, all five of the siblings would graduate and enter the fields of medicine and public speaking. How? Just… how??

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Child(ish) Reads: Wanted: Toddler’s Personal Assistant

| Patti Webb

In December, I usually pick a fun book to review; mostly to whiz through it and have a light-hearted post. This one changed up a bit on me.

Wanted: Toddler’s Personal Assistant: How Nannying for the 1% Taught Me about the Myths of Equality, Motherhood, and Upward Mobility in America by Stephanie Kiser

Blurb: When Stephanie Kiser moves to New York City after college to pursue a career in writing, she quickly learns that her entry-level salary won’t cover the high cost of living―never mind her crushing student loan debt. But there is one in-demand job that pays more than enough to allow Stephanie to stay in the city: nannying for the 1%. Desperate to escape the poverty of her own childhood, Stephanie falls into a job that hijacks her life for the next seven years: a glorified personal assistant to toddlers on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

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